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FedEDI^® Plus Frequently Asked Questions

Federal Reserve Financial Services is committed to providing the answers and information you need. Answers to many of our customers most frequently asked questions can be found using the links below.

If your question is not answered by the information provided on the site, My FedDirectory^SM provides a comprehensive list of service and support contacts who can assist you.

Sign-up Questions

How do I sign up for the service?
What are the fees associated with service?
Who pays for the service?
Since the FedEDI Plus fees are variable based upon usage, how can I predict my monthly costs?
What is a "Service Participation Point"?
What is a "Service Participation Point Manager"?
Are there different access levels for view and maintenance functions? Does FedEDI Plus have different levels of access?
Is a digital certificate update necessary?

General Service Questions

Where can I locate FedEDI Plus on FedLine Web^® and FedLine Advantage^®?
What is the "Scheduled Reports" feature?
What is the "On Demand" feature?
How long are the "Scheduled Reports" retained in the FedEDI Plus service on FedLine Web?
What date range can I access using the "On Demand" report feature?
Can I use the FedEDI Plus service to create reports from data files that did not flow through the FedACH service?
If I select "weekly" for my Quick Scan report frequency, when will the report be produced?
What report formats are available?
I am having formatting issues while printing some of the reports. Sometimes reports generated in text (txt) format have line wrap issues and will not page break in the appropriate locations. What’s wrong?
Will the reports appear like they are generated by FedACH or by my financial institution?
What reports are available in the service?
What is the difference between the Remittance Advice Summary and Remittance Advice Detail reports?
What SEC codes are examined when the data is being scanned to produce the reports?
A report is not being produced for a customer that I know is in my FedACH file and I have established the customer account number in the maintenance screen. What’s wrong?
What is the purpose of the Quick Scan report?
How often can the FedEDI Plus parameters be changed?
What ANSI X12 transactions sets can FedEDI Plus translate?
Sometimes the detail or summary remittance reports contain bad or jumbled information. What’s wrong?
I cannot unzip (decompress) the file that contains the reports. What can I do?

Windows Versus Web Questions

The old Windows-based FedEDI system seems to be able to translate more EDI information than the new web-based FedEDI Plus service. Is that correct?
Where is the "Untranslated File" option that is currently available in the FedEDI Windows-based system?
Where are the other non-EDI reports that are available in the Windows-based FedEDI system?
My institution subscribes to the "information file" only to supply data to the Windows-based FedEDI system. Will we need to continue to subscribe to the information file after converting to the new service?
In addition to using the "information file" as input for the Windows-based FedEDI system, we also use the information file for other purposes such as deriving returns and NOCs from systems other than FedLine®. Will I need to subscribe to both the "information file" and FedEDI Plus in the future?
Can I continue to use the Windows-based FedEDI product at the same time I use the web-based FedEDI Plus Service?

Secure E-mail Questions

What is the "Secure Delivery" feature?
Do I have to use the "Secure Delivery" feature?
Is the “Secure Delivery” e-mail service safe?
What is the URL of the “secure delivery” e-mail portal?
ZixCorp’s web site indicates that they offer a number of different solutions for receiving secure e-mail, including some that deliver the e-mails directly to my normal e-mail instead of the “secure delivery” e-mail portal (achedi.com). Are all of these options allowed?
How long are e-mails retained in the secure e-mail portal (achedi.com) before they are deleted?
How long are un-accessed accounts (e-mail addresses) retained in the secure email portal before they are deleted?
I am receiving error messages in my browser when I try to access the secure delivery e-mail portal (achedi.com). What’s wrong?
I did not receive a “secure delivery” notification e-mail to let me know my reports are available in the secure e-mail portal. What’s wrong?
I forgot the password I created to access the encrypted Internet portal. What can I do now?

Sign-up Questions

Q: How do I sign up for the service?

A: You can sign up for the FedEDI Plus service by completing the appropriate sections of the FedACH Participation Agreement. Go to http://FRBservices.org/fedach/ to get started.

Q: What are the fees associated with service?

A: No start-up, minimum or monthly fees are associated with the service. Usage based fees for secure delivery and report generation apply as follows:

Each "Scheduled Report" file generated is assessed a 20 cent fee.
Each "Secure Delivery" e-mail delivered is assessed a 20 cent fee.
Each "On Demand" report file generated is assessed a 75 cent fee.

These fees apply regardless of the size of the input data, number of pages generated, type or format of the reports selected, number of SEC codes or transactions used to generate the report.

The EDI based reports are generated at the "Customer Account Number" level. All of the ACH transactions for the previous days’ activity are combined by the Customer Account Number requested and a single physical report file is generated. For example, a single report generation fee would be applied for a single physical scheduled summary remittance advice report even if the report file contains multiple transactions (files and/or SEC codes) that result in multiple logical reports to be generated within the physical report file for the day.

If the "Secure Delivery" option were selected to deliver the reports, the Secure Delivery fee would apply for each e-mail address defined per Customer Account Number per day. All of the physical report(s) generated for a given Customer Account Number and e-mail address combination are zipped together and attached to a single e-mail.

The one exception to the usage based fee structure is the generation of the FedEDI Plus Quick Scan report. This report is "bundled" with your monthly electronic access fee and no additional report generation fees apply. "Secure Delivery" (e-mail) fees do apply to the Quick Scan report.

Q: Who pays for the service?

A: Fees associated with the service will appear on the Federal Reserve statement for the benefiting RDFI.

Q: Since the FedEDI Plus fees are variable based upon usage, how can I predict my monthly costs?

A: The Federal Reserve Banks' have created a "FedEDI Plus Value Calculator" spreadsheet for you to model your expected usage to help you estimate your monthly fees. The spreadsheet also includes an option that might help you estimate a profit margin for providing the service to your customers. Run your own calculations with the FedEDI Plus Value Calculator. (XLS)

Q: What is a "Service Participation Point"?

A: The Service Participation Point is a new construct in FedACH that allows an RDFI to designate an electronic connection (that is associated with a Federal Reserve digital certificate) to be an electronic access point for the service for one or more of RDFI's RTNs that may or may not be associated with a digital certificate. The designated electronic connection (and its associated ETI or RTN) may belong to the RDFI or RDFI’s third party processor. The Service Participation Point is completely separate from any settlement arrangements that may be in place. Refer to Operating Circular 4 (OC4) and to the FedACH participation agreement for additional details.

Q: What is a "Service Participation Point Manager"?

A: The Service Participation Point Manager is a third party that owns the electronic connection that an RDFI has designated to be the RDFI's Service Participation Point. The Service Participation Point Manager will administer the FedEDI Plus service on behalf of the RDFI. This relationship is completely separate from any settlement arrangements that may be in place. Refer to Operating Circular 4 (OC4) and to the FedACH participation agreement for additional details.

Q: Are there different access levels for view and maintenance functions? Does FedEDI Plus have different levels of access?

A: No. After the service has been activated for a particular RDFI RTN, anyone with a certificate with FedACH access for that RDFI has access to all functions in the FedEDI Plus service. If an RDFI has designated a Service Participation Point Manager then this manager institution has access to all functions and the RDFI only has access to view pre-generated reports and generate "On Demand" reports (i.e. the RDFI cannot function any of the parameter maintenance).

Q: Is a digital certificate update necessary?

A: Perhaps. If the certificate holder already has access to any other FedACH functions then no certificate/token changes are required. If the certificate/token enables access to other applications (Cash, Checks…), but not FedACH, then a certificate update would be necessary to use FedEDI Plus. Contact your End User Authorization Contact (EUAC) representative at your institution to initiate any necessary updates.

General Service Questions

Q: Where can I locate FedEDI Plus on FedLine Web and FedLine Advantage?

A: FedEDI Plus can be located under the FedACH® tab for both FedLine Web and FedLine Advantage customers. Look on the left navigation column for the "FedEDI Plus" links below "Risk Services."

Q: What is the "Scheduled Reports" feature?

A: The "Scheduled Reports" feature comprises the primary way you can use the service. You can use the on-line FedLine Web interface to specify parameters that controls how the FedEDI Plus service functions. Example parameters include the following: RTNs, account numbers, report types, report formats and delivery options. At the end of each processing day, the service automatically reviews the previous days’ information and generates the requested report(s) and makes them available as you have specified.

Note that the service automatically scans all of your information housed in FedACH for the previous processing day and generates reports only when there is a match to what you have specified. The searching for information is included in the service at no additional charge. A fee is only applied when a match is found and a report is generated. These generated reports are stored in FedLine Web for 10 processing days. This feature could potentially eliminate manual processing in your back room operation and make the reports available to your customers sooner.

Q: What is the "On Demand" feature?

A: The "On Demand" feature in the service is an optional feature that can be used to generate an ad hoc / impromptu report(s). You might need to use this feature if for some reason you did not pre-define a report as a "Scheduled Report." This feature may prove helpful if your customer calls to request information from a few days ago or if you have a new customer account and would like to research that customer’s historical files to determine if it is receiving EDI information.

The "On Demand" feature consumes more processing resources than the batch oriented "Scheduled Reports" feature and is thus priced at a higher fee. The information is available to produce reports as early as the previous processing day and as far back as ten processing days in the past.

Q: How long are the "Scheduled Reports" retained in the FedEDI Plus service on FedLine Web?

A: Your scheduled reports are retained for ten FedACH processing days. The reports can be viewed in date ranges from one to ten processing days.

Q: What date range can I access using the "On Demand" report feature?

A: You can access information as old as ten FedACH processing days. Reports can be generated in date ranges from one to 10 processing days. The entire ten days of history are not initially available when you first sign up for the service. The data is populated on a daily basis starting the day after the service is activated.

Q: Can I use the FedEDI Plus service to create reports from data files that did not flow through the FedACH service?

A: No. The new service is entirely Web-based at the Federal Reserve and does not offer an option to import files that did not originally flow through FedACH processing.

Q: If I select "weekly" for my Quick Scan report frequency, when will the report be produced?

A: If weekly is selected, the Quick Scan report will be produced on the first processing day of the week for the information from the previous week. It will usually run on a Monday and will contain the previous week’s information. If Monday is a holiday, it will run on Tuesday.

Q: What report formats are available?

A: The following formats are available: text (TXT), print display (PDF), hypertext (HTML). The text format is provided if you require the same format as the legacy Windows-based FedEDI system. The text format has several limitations. The more modern PDF and HTML formats will likely serve you and your customers better than the text format.

Q: I am having formatting issues while printing some of the reports. Sometimes reports generated in text (txt) format have line wrap issues and will not page break in the appropriate locations. What’s wrong?

A: It would be best to select "PDF" formatting if you or your customer need to print the reports. The PDF format allows much more control of printing features. The text (txt) format has very limited features that are controlled by your client side software (Notepad, WordPad). If you must generate text-formatted reports, you can try these settings to help with the line wrap issue: landscape mode, 8 point Courier new font, and 0 width margins.

Q: Will the reports appear like they are generated by FedACH or by my financial institution?

A: None of the reports reflect any Federal Reserve Bank wording or branding. In addition, the service supports "white branding" so that you can configure up to two heading lines on the reports to identify your financial institution. The secure e-mail portal screens are generic (unbranded) and do not reflect the Federal Reserve Banks or any particular financial institution.

Q: What reports are available in the service?

A: Available reports include the following: Quick Scan, Remittance Advice Summary, Remittance Advice Detail and Social Security Beneficiary.

Q: What is the difference between the Remittance Advice Summary and Remittance Advice Detail reports?

A: The Remittance Advice Summary report only attempts to translate a limited set of information from the EDI data that most customers find necessary.

The Remittance Advice Detail report attempts to translate many additional pieces of information from the EDI data. This additional information might be useful to your customer if the limited amount of data translated in the Remittance Advice Summary report does not meet their needs.

Please note that the detail report may produce many more pages of output than does the summary report. Typically, a customer would need either the detail or summary report but not both. Work with your customer to determine which report best meets their needs.

Q: What SEC codes are examined when the data is being scanned to produce the reports?

A: The following SEC codes are automatically examined: CTX, CCD, PPD, CIE, WEB, CBR, PBR and POS. A future release may allow you the ability to select specific SEC codes.

Q: A report is not being produced for a customer that I know is in my FedACH file and I have established the customer account number in the maintenance screen. What’s wrong?

A: Most likely the customer account number established in FedEDI Plus does not match the customer account number the data. Please examine the Quick Scan report associated with that file carefully and look for anomalies in the account number. FedEDI Plus does contain the ability to match on customer account number regardless of leading zeros, embedded spaces and embedded dashes. If there are other characters in the customer account number then those characters must be included in the customer maintenance screen in order for the service to be able to generate reports for that customer.

Q: What is the purpose of the Quick Scan report?

A: The Quick Scan function searches all of your FedACH information for the specified date range and identifies records with addenda information that may contain EDI information. The report shows some summary information about the record (RTN, customer account number, amount, SEC, Company ID, etc…). The report also reflects which customer account numbers have already been established in the service to automatically generate scheduled reports.

This report helps you to identify additional customer account numbers that have addenda information that you might wish to define in the service. You can use this information to begin a discussion with your customers that have addenda information in their files but don’t yet have reports defined.

Returns and NOC’s are excluded from the Quick Scan report. There is no fee associated with generating the Quick Scan report. Secure delivery (e-mail) fees do apply.

Q: How often can the FedEDI Plus parameters be changed?

A: The parameters can be modified anytime the online FedEDI Plus service is available. Shortly after the FedACH end-of-day process, the FedEDI Plus service will generate reports and e-mails based on the parameters currently specified in the application.

Q: What ANSI X12 transactions sets can FedEDI Plus translate?

A: FedEDI Plus can translate the following ANSI X12 transaction sets:

820 (payment order/remittance advice)
835 (health care claim payment/advice)
813 (electronic filing of tax return data)
823 (lockbox deposit records)
521 (income or asset offset for child support)

In addition, FedEDI Plus will translate the ANSI X12 segments used by the Social Security Administration for payments to representative payees.

Since the STP 820 format is simply a subset of the full 820 specification, it is also supported by the FedEDI Plus service.

Q: Sometimes the detail or summary remittance reports contain bad or jumbled information. What’s wrong?

A: Bad or jumbled information in a detail or summary remittance report usually indicates that the financial EDI transaction was not formatted by the originator to the appropriate ANSI X12 standard. When the FedEDI Plus service encounters transactions that are not properly formatted it translates as much as possible. When FedEDI Plus encounters transactions that cannot be translated it displays the information in untranslated form. If you consistently receive items with addenda records that are not formatted correctly, you should suggest to your customer that he or she discuss the matter with their trading partner that originated the items.

Q: I cannot unzip (decompress) the file that contains the reports. What can I do?

A: Most operating systems include the ability to zip and unzip files. You will either need to upgrade to an operating system that supports compressed (zipped) files or purchase a third party product. For additional information see this URL http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259177

Windows Versus Web Questions

Q: The old Windows-based FedEDI system seems to be able to translate more EDI information than the new web-based FedEDI Plus service. Is that correct?

A: The old Windows-based FedEDI system is able to translate some improperly formatted EDI information. The FedEDI Plus service currently requires the EDI information to be properly formatted according to the appropriate ANSI X12 standards in order for it to be translated into human readable form. We are investigating the possibility of providing translation of improperly structured EDI in a future FedEDI Plus release.

If your customer encounters this issue you have two options. First, have your customer discuss this with their trading partner and determine if the improperly formatted EDI can be corrected before it is entered into the ACH network. Second, you may wish to continue to use the old Windows-based FedEDI system for this customer until enhancements can be implemented for the FedEDI Plus service.

Q: Where is the "Untranslated File" option that is currently available in the FedEDI Windows-based system?

A: In the initial release of FedEDI Plus, only translated human readable reports are provided. In a future FedEDI Plus release, the service will support an "Untranslated File" option. This could assist customers that have that ability to accept raw EDI data. This could be a huge time saving option to automatically apply the EDI information into Account Receivable packages to assist with straight through processing (STP).

Q: Where are the other non-EDI reports that are available in the Windows-based FedEDI system?

A: The non-EDI based reports include the following: Return Items, Notification of Change, Death Notification and Acknowledgements. These reports are not available in the initial release of the FedEDI Plus service. They will be available in a future release.

Q: My institution subscribes to the "information file" only to supply data to the Windows-based FedEDI system. Will we need to continue to subscribe to the information file after converting to the new service?

A: No, all of the data for the web-based FedEDI Plus service is maintained at the Federal Reserve in the FedACH system.

Q: In addition to using the "information file" as input for the Windows-based FedEDI system, we also use the information file for other purposes such as deriving returns and NOCs from systems other than FedLine®. Will I need to subscribe to both the "information file" and FedEDI Plus in the future?

A: Yes.

Q: Can I continue to use the Windows-based FedEDI product at the same time I use the web-based FedEDI Plus Service?

A: Yes. A prudent conversion approach might be to add a few customers at a time to the new service and generate reports in both systems. When you and your customer are comfortable with the new process, you can discontinue using the reports from the Windows-based product for that customer.

Secure E-mail Questions

Q: What is the "Secure Delivery" feature?

A: The "Secure Delivery" feature is an optional service that uses a third party secure email service to automatically deliver reports to you and/or to your customers. Report(s) for a single e-mail address that are generated during the same FedACH cycle are "zipped" together into a single e-mail attachment. This simplifies the download process so that only one file, instead of possibly multiple files, need to be downloaded. This also speeds the download process as the size of the report(s) are significantly reduced. This feature could potentially reduce or eliminate manual processing in your back room operation and make the reports available to your customers sooner.

Q: Do I have to use the "Secure Delivery" feature?

A: No, the "Secure Delivery" feature is optional. You can always choose to manually download the reports via FedLine Web. However, this feature does enable you to automate the delivery of reports directly to your customers and potentially reduce or eliminate manual processing in your back room operation and make the reports available to your customers sooner.

Q: Is the “Secure Delivery” e-mail service safe?

A:The security infrastructure provided by the third party company, ZixCorp, is appropriate for the information contained in these reports. The encryption included with the service is compliant with NACHA requirements. The information contained in these reports does not necessitate the same stringent level of encryption and security that is built into the Federal Reserve Banks’ secure file delivery channels (FedLine Advantage, Command and Direct).

As long as the e-mail addresses are entered and maintained accurately and the recipient maintains control of his or her e-mail account, this should be an appropriate channel for this information.

If you do not feel comfortable with information being housed by the third party company or transmitted securely over the Internet, you can bypass this part of the service and manually download your reports from FedLine Web. Additional detailed information about the secure e-mail vendor can be found at www.zixcorp.com

Q: What is the URL of the “secure delivery” e-mail portal?

Q: ZixCorp’s Web site indicates that they offer a number of different solutions for receiving secure e-mail, including some that deliver the e-mails directly to my normal e-mail instead of the “secure delivery” e-mail portal (achedi.com). Are all of these options allowed?

A: ZixCorp offers some additional solutions, such as ZixDirect, that require you to purchase additional components thereby allowing secure e-mails to be sent directly to your normal e-mail client software instead of the Internet portal. The Federal Reserve Bank has only performed a comprehensive security assessment of the portal option (ZixPort) and not the other solutions offered by ZixCorp.

ZixPort is a secure messaging service and as a hosted service, does not require additional IT, Web or security infrastructure. ZixPort is based on standard Internet technology that ensures users can access their secure messages through a variety of Internet browsers.

The additional ZixCorp components and solutions are not required to use the secure e-mail service and are not supported by the Federal Reserve Banks. Please also note that ZixCorp may or may not be part of the long term secure e-mail strategy for the FedEDI Plus service. That being said, customers may choose to use the other ZixCorp solutions for receipt of secure e-mails directly to their normal e-mail client based on their own security assessment and business needs.

Additional information can be located at the ZixCorp web site.

Q: How long are e-mails retained in the secure e-mail portal (achedi.com) before they are deleted?

A: 60 calendar days.

Q: How long are un-accessed accounts (e-mail addresses) retained in the secure email portal before they are deleted?

A: If an account (e-mail address) is not accessed via the portal for 180 calendar days (six months) it will be automatically deleted.

Q: I am receiving error messages in my browser when I try to access the secure delivery e-mail portal (achedi.com). What’s wrong?

A: Potentially your institution is using a system to restrict what Internet sites can be accessed. Check with your system administrator or information technology support to verify. The Internet site achedi.com may need to be added as a trusted site.

There are also specific browser setting requirements to access the site. You can find this information documented in the on-line help system provided by ZixCorp at http://www.zixhelp.com/webhelp/portalhelp.htm. Any technical issues you encounter that are not addressed in the online help should be directed to ZixCorp at support@zixcorp.com.

Q: I did not receive a “secure delivery” notification e-mail to let me know my reports are available in the secure e-mail portal. What’s wrong?

A:It is possible that the e-mail address was entered incorrectly. Check with the person who is responsible for this setup at your institution. It is also possible that the e-mail was stopped by a firewall, spam filter, bulk e-mail filter, e-mail system or just “lost” in the Internet. Internet e-mail does not have “guaranteed delivery."

Check with your e-mail administrator or Internet Service Provider (ISP) to determine where the e-mail notices are being stopped. The e-mails are generated with a domain name of achedi.com. This name may need to be added as a permitted domain to be allowed into your origination.

It would be a good practice to log on to the secure e-mail portal every day to check for reports even if you don’t get a notification e-mail. The secure e-mails in the portal will not get trapped or lost.

Q: I forgot the password I created to access the encrypted Internet portal. What can I do now?

A: You have two options. You can use the “forgot your password” link from the achedi.com home page. This option will e-mail you the password reminder phrase you established earlier. If this phrase does not help you remember, you can use the “change your password” link from the achedi.com home page. This screen will allow you to request a new password. The portal will send you an e-mail to your normal e-mail inbox that will allow you to activate this new password in the portal.

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